Hard question; he had excellent race pace in some races, but at some he was nowhere. I think that tyre and car characteristics will play decisive role in answer to this question.

I'm not an expert but I've read people say that his driving style is almost identical to Jenson's so I think that will help the team to focus on both drivers given that the direction of the car is the same in terms of development

Whitmarsh just said that he promises equal treatment to both drivers, which is also another good sign for Perez to shine

Hard question; he had excellent race pace in some races, but at some he was nowhere. I think that tyre and car characteristics will play decisive role in answer to this question.

I'm not an expert but I've read people say that his driving style is almost identical to Jenson's so I think that will help the team to focus on both drivers given that the direction of the car is the same in terms of development

Whitmarsh just said that he promises equal treatment to both drivers, which is also another good sign for Perez to shine

If he can take the pressure, after he signed with Mclaren he completely dropped off, people said he was trying to prove something or maybe he just cracked because he knew people were watching his every move now. Every mistake he makes in the Mclaren will be spotted and scrutinized, whereas at Sauber he could go under the radar a little more.

_________________A man exists for only a lifetime, a name lasts until the end of time.

Bit of a novel here, but my simple answer is: Yes, absolutely. He'll be better than almost everyone seems to want to believe.

He has supreme talent, but a lot of misfortune last year meant he only got to translate that into a major result on three occasions. I don't understand why people describe him as lucky and can only come to the conclusion that these people spend more time staring at stat sheets than watching races. In Malaysia he had a strategy that worked well early on, but once he got up there he was fighting for victory on pure pace, not luck. And had Sauber not cancelled out their early bold move by being extremely conservative late on, we'd likely be talking of Perez as a Grand Prix winner. In Monza, he clearly had an advantage in the second stint, but without his excellent first stint, where he gained positions on the slower, hard tyre, he probably wouldn't have finished on the podium.

I've got a lot of respect for drivers like that, who get a fortunate opportunity but go on to make the most of it. Too often these types of drivers get unfiarly criticised, such as when Hamilton was criticised for walking into F1 with the best car. Why criticise a driver who succeeds?

For a 22 year-old he is pretty experienced. He knows what it is like to get hurt. He knows what it is like to be effectively bullied out on track, and he stood up for himself. He also beat a pretty solid and underrated benchmark in Kobayashi over a single season. Koba wasn't a top talent, but he was IMO worthy of a decent drive this year.

My only question about Perez is his attitude. He speaks of beating Button and winning the title, but are those just empty words? He's reportedly not the fittest driver in the paddock. We haven't seen yet how he can recover from a slump in form, or deal with the expectation of a top drive. Ultimately, he has the speed and he can race, but can he back that up with the type of dedication and mental strength we see from Vettel?

IMO he's at the best place possible. McLaren has done an excellent job of replacing elite drivers with young talents who emerge as elite racers. When Senna left, he was replaced by Hakkinen, who was replaced by Raikkonen, who was replaced by Hamilton. Perez arguably has shown greater potential than Hakkinen and Raikkonen (obviously Hamilton was a rookie) did in their time at smaller teams.

_________________I don't follow F1 so I don't know what I'm talking about

I think providing McLaren make a good car (likely, given the small changes in regs) it's going to be exciting to watch him this year. He may not stand out in quali but I can see a couple of dramatic race wins coming his way.

Hard question; he had excellent race pace in some races, but at some he was nowhere. I think that tyre and car characteristics will play decisive role in answer to this question.

I'm not an expert but I've read people say that his driving style is almost identical to Jenson's so I think that will help the team to focus on both drivers given that the direction of the car is the same in terms of development

Whitmarsh just said that he promises equal treatment to both drivers, which is also another good sign for Perez to shine

Not a big fan of two drivers with the same 'style' for several reasons. Biggest of which is that if a track or tyre wont suite one driver then they are both screwed.

Hard question; he had excellent race pace in some races, but at some he was nowhere. I think that tyre and car characteristics will play decisive role in answer to this question.

I'm not an expert but I've read people say that his driving style is almost identical to Jenson's so I think that will help the team to focus on both drivers given that the direction of the car is the same in terms of development

Whitmarsh just said that he promises equal treatment to both drivers, which is also another good sign for Perez to shine

Not a big fan of two drivers with the same 'style' for several reasons. Biggest of which is that if a track or tyre wont suite one driver then they are both screwed.

But on the flipside, they can tailor the car more to said tracks as opposed to making it only work for one of them. Generally when you have 1 of 2 drivers who are poor on 1 track its due to the car. If the car can be 'tweaked' for both before hand it should theoretically lessen the impact of that.

I sincerely hope he gives Jenson a run for his money as he is quite fast and seems to be a genuinly nice guy, or else Mclaren should dump him and get Hulkenberg. if he does go well i would like to see a rivalry between him, Hulk, Ricciardo, Vettel, Grosjean and Hamilton in the future.

For some reason I can't see Perez becoming a superstar and a driver who can lead a big team like McLaren, but again he's still young, and if he can impress in his first year with them he can gain more confidence

He will succeed to the extent of winning afew races during his time at McLaren, but I doubt he will ever put up a serious title challenge. I see him working his contract then leaving, or depending on consistency he may be offered 1 year extensions to help in the WCC. Also if he proves to be any good I'm sure Ferrari will pick him back up at the end of his current contract.

Something tells me that Perez will have a few strong races over the year leaving opinions split on his talent but won't be absolute top tier material. Button will top him on points at season's end and McLaren will have a mediocre year by their standards. Imho they need to replace Whitmarsh with a stronger person at the helm.

Other teams need to raise their game to beat the Newey/Vettel combination but letting LH slip through their fingers can only be seen as a step backwards (unless he really really shocks us all). I'm really just hoping Lotus or Merc pull something special out of the bag to spice up this season.

Hard question; he had excellent race pace in some races, but at some he was nowhere. I think that tyre and car characteristics will play decisive role in answer to this question.

Sir, I believe this thread is about Perez and not Bu-

Oh. Wait a tick. :p

In honesty, I feel he will do better than what Heikki did (for whatever reasons may have been the case for Heikki's overall poor showing). We will have to wait though and see. I hope he doesn't fade out. I'd like to see him stay in F1. With any luck, a strong showing from him may generate some interest in Kamui again, too, from teams.